FOCUS
TERROR HAS NO NAME. IS IT?!
Easter Sunday, one of the sacred days for Christian faithfulls on 21st April 2019, turned out to be a blood letter day for Sri Lankan Christians. Reportedly some 300 were killed by the self exploding bombers or what is called as suicide bombers. Over 500 were injured. Churches and hotels were destroyed. Killers left not just their foot prints but their signature as well to claim responsibility so that the heaven up there should have no doubt, who killed whom!
Those killed were non-Muslim Kafirs, and this is what Prof. Sumit Paul a research scholar on Semitic Languages & Civilizations had written, “This word Kafir is again in public consciousness across the globe following the Sri Lankan suicide bombers blowing themselves up vowing the elimination of all non-Muslim or non believers from the face of the earth”. Of course, media being what media is, more often than not, agenda driven, had this usual crap to convey, terrorist has no religion. It is another matter that they use this idiom so very selectively that their under garments are always seen.
Terrorism is an evolving scourge and terrorists prefer to be as anonymous as any ordinary citizens especially when they are on the prowl or when they set out to execute their nefarious deeds. But once the job is over, it’s the heaven that beckons them so there is a competition to claim responsibility.
But in Sri Lanka, immediately after the blasts, there was nobody phoning the media houses to claim responsibility. Because the mastermind himself was a suicide bomber and got killed. Zahran Mohammed Hashim, born in 1986, was one of the five siblings of Mohammed Hashim, a petty trader in Kattankudy, a coastal town in the eastern Batticaloa district of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka had long ago stopped being in the news after the LTTE was comprehensively vanquished under the presidentship of Mahinda Rajapaksa. In recent times the problem with the debt liquidation of Hambanthota Port development payable to China was the news. But, Sri Lanka succumbed to the pressure to sign an agreement with China for 99 years lease of the port infrastructure. Suddenly it’s in the news for all wrong reasons. Apparently there appeared no reason for this kind of attack targeting mostly Christians, especially on a holy day as Easter Sunday.
But then, madness has little explanation. ISIS fanatics reportedly hailed the attack as a revenge for New Zealand shooting and also claimed responsibility. But it was a little known local outfit called National Thowheed Jamaath, an organization that Zahran Hashim had started and nursed. Ever since 21st April bomb blasts Sri Lanka has not been the same. They, at least in and around the place where blasts have taken place, are living a restless life, with intelligence informing there could be more attacks.
In a country of 21 million people, Muslims constitute only 9.7% in Sri Lanka, with 70% Buddhists. In the past LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) of Tamil minorities had a purpose, to have their own separate homeland within Sri Lanka. And LTTE was very violent for over 25 years. LTTE fought a violent battle with Sri Lankan forces. However on 19/5/2009, Sri Lankan forces finally managed to kill their founder leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and LTTE lost the battle. But Muslims were by and large was a very quiet community at least until 21st April. Easter Sunday attack, completely unexpected though, has changed it all.
Reassuring Indian Christians, Muslims in Bengalooru and Mangalooru, stood sentinel at church gates during Sunday prayers, expressing solidarity. It was a good gesture. It only showed the long held belief, that in a community, all are not rotten apples. Those who gathered near the churches and elsewhere had among other placards had carried “TERRORIST HAS NO RELIGION” placards as well. This particular placard on display was increasingly becoming irrelevant, with just about anybody taking up gun or firearm to inflict pain, destruction and loss of life on some disagreeable crowd. The fact was those who perpetrated the violence in the name of religion, always belonged to some faith.
On 15th March, a gunman had entered a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, shot indiscriminately those who were praying in the mosque. If at 1.40 pm it was at Al Noor Mosque he continued the shooting at Linwood Islamic Centre 15 minutes later at 1.55 pm. Both attacks killed some 50 of them and another 50 wounded. They were all unarmed. Brenton Harrison Tarrant an Australian white supremacist, he was clearly a Christian and a terrorist, despite his Christian brethren disowning him and condemning his action.
If Zahran Hashim and his National Thowheed Jamaath thought that Muslims did not come under the Sri Lankan constitution, that they need not follow any government rules and in his understanding of Koran Non-Muslims have to be killed, apparently Brenton Harrison Tarrant, an Australian white Christian, killing Muslims in another country, Newzealand, will have his own justification, for his shooting of unarmed Muslim men at prayer.
Both of them may be right, with their own misguided explanations. But aren’t both of them creating a chaotic world order where co-existence of humans is impossible unless one agrees with their ideology. It’s my way only, not even highway. Here again, fence sitters would call it, mass shooting of unarmed opponents, the killer belong to no religion.
We have in India, fresh in memory, just completed 100 years of Jalianwala Baug massacre by Brigadier Gen Reginald Dyer, a British subject, is clearly a terrorist, since he killed some 400 unarmed Indians at pointblank range. It was on 13th April 1919. Can it be called state terrorism? But he acted on his own, without order, without discussion, therefore he is a terrorist. It is another matter that he used his sentries to do the cruel job.
Terrorism has a long history. It’s not a 21st century phenomenon. According to the recorded history it was Jews who founded a terrorist organization in the 1st century to overthrow Romans in the Middle East. But since we are in the 21st century, it is important that we understand modern terrorism post II World War. It is pertinent to note that the use of terrorism has always been to further some social or political causes in recent years. Among many causes increasing population is clearly one of them.
In a world with finite resources increasing population only makes it more complex. 1983, Nelli massacre in Assam is a classic example in the Indian context, where migration of Bengalees from Bangladesh and the perceived loss of opportunities for locals led to this huge socio-political rupture. Some 5000 were killed. Of course, in India there have been many such raptures called riots, from 1947 until 2002, including the anti-Sikh riot in 1984 where close to 2800 reportedly died. It is true that there were some or the other reasons-basically socio-political- that caused the bloody upsurge.
But what happened in Sri Lanka or in New Zealand have no such causes. The obvious causelessness makes these killings a matter of deep concern. If ISIS wants the whole world to be only Muslim and wants the world to be Islamised, these white supremacists, and Brenton Harrison Tarrant is not alone in this madness. There are peers, who have done such acts in the past in the name of Aryan Kingdom.
Fortunately there are enough among Christian west, who can put brake on this madness called white supremacy. And it does not look to be growing. But certainly a matter of deep concern all the same. However the same cannot be said about ISIS and umpteen other outfits that have proliferated from Middle East to Far East talking about one Allah who is Vilhaad Al Wahid, that is he is one of a kind, incomparable and one Muslim world and there are so-called faithfulls -or Jehadis-who would give their life to this cause. And comes these reports from different parts of the world around the same time, “Suicide blast rocks Kabul, 7 killed” “Unidentified gunmen kill 13 at Mexican party” “Jehadi attacks kill 22 Syria pro-regime fighters” “Fifteen killed in fierce gun battle between Lankan forces and ISIS militants”.
Look at the way National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) has evolved. It is another matter that on April 27, post Easter Sunday mayhem on 21st April, Sri Lankan government of President Maithripala Sirisena has banned this outfit NTJ.
Comparatively, except for the LTTE problem, the Island nation has been a peaceful place and therefore has been a global tourist destination, despite occasional clashes between Buddhists and Muslims. Hence, such a happening, as it happened on 21st April Easter Sunday was completely unexpected. In fact Sri Lanka had an evolving legacy of Sufi culture among Sri Lankan Muslims, especially in and around Kattankudy. Yet it happened.
Reportedly in early 1980s, Gulf returned youth with their Saudi Arabian contacts brought the puritanical Wahhabism into Sri Lanka. Slowly and steadily Sufi’s were losing their influence. No wonder, a place like Kuttankudy spanning just 3.9 square kilo meters gave birth to 45 mosques with Saudi money, each probably having its own group of thinkers and mentors guiding the youth away from Sufism and towards Wahhabism. In 1998, May 29, one Farooq Maulvi, a Sufi protagonist, who fought the wahhabi ideology was killed. Clearly peace loving Sufi’s were losing the battle to guide the youth. Distrust and fear within the Muslim community of Kuttankudy were sown. It only widened in following years. Attack on mosque at Irumbuthaikkan in Batticaloa followed. Hijab for girls and women became compulsory. Liberal women stayed indoors and covered their faces when outdoor. 45 mosques and its youthful small outfits got together as Eamaniya Nenjangal and asked Sufi’s to convert to Wahhabism. It was an existential crisis for Sufis. Some 50Sufi houses and madrasas were gutted. A maulvi Mohammed Rizvi was caught, beaten and his beard shaven was released after a few days. Maulvi Abdul Rauff was shot but survived unhurt. In Kattankudy Jihad had arrived. According to them it was their “duty to correct the Muslims who are going on the wrong path”.
It was in this atmosphere National Thowheed Jamath was established by Zahran Hashmi with 40 members which grew to 400 in a year’s time. An Arabic College dropout, for his radical views, nobody in Kattankudy thought that Zahran Hashmi would go as far as to harm the country with such terror. Concerned about his radical views and his growing followers local community leaders reported against him to all top government authorities. Apparently none took it seriously.
Has the Jihad come to stay in Sri Lanka? It is a difficult question. Government in Colombo is not taking chances. Majority Buddhists have reacted angrily towards Muslims. Unfortunately it could be the peace loving section of Muslims who could be the sitting ducks. Police have tried to control the mob violence. But the rupture is clear. Will the gash remain an open wound? It’s a question staring at Lankans in general and Lankan Muslims in particular.
There are also leaders like Rauff Hakim, a Minister in Sri Lankan government and leader of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress reportedly stated “Being a Muslim Minister in the Cabinet, I believe that Muslim leadership and the community should introspect. We are ashamed and outraged at this happening”. Such voices of sanity are the need of the hour. Hope it persists.
However a question lingered long, how NTJ alone with its limited resources could have managed the simultaneous blast in eight different places in West and East? Without anybody suspecting their role, groups in Tamil Nadu came out openly to disassociate themselves from the happenings of 21st April in Sri Lanka. It could be very likely that there were coordinative efforts which helped NTJ achieve their dastardly deed, since Sri Lankan Muslims too are generally Tamils.
Globally, there have been more serious deliberations on how to contain this scourge and if possible eliminate terrorism of all kinds. The long awaited declaration of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) Chief Masood Azar as an international global terrorist has come about after China decided to fall in line with the international community. While it is true that international community has to be unequivocal in its stand of zero tolerance of terror related violence, there are differing perceptions of how it can be handled by individual countries.
Coming to ‘Terror Has No Religion’ statements or placards, it is pertinent to note how some individuals or organizations or even media try to take a sinister side, is an interesting study, especially in the Indian context. India is the most complex country in the world with its ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity. Left to themselves, whether India could have been a different society, it is difficult to surmise. Ever since Britishers left India in 1947, there is a semblance of democratic functioning by government elected under adult franchise. From couple of political parties in 1947 to over 600 political parties to-day, it’s a democracy of a different vibrancy. However, despite there being some serious regional players there are only 2 national political parties and they are Indian National Congress, the Grand Old Party (GOP) of India and the Bharathiya Janatha Party, besides Communist Party of India and its other splinter groups. It is true that, unlike Congress and BJP, communist party do not have national presence. It is only in Kerala, West Bengal and some states of North East like Tripura. All these parties have an agenda to remain politically and electorally relevant. Although BJP denies being a Hindu Nationalist party, the fact is vast majority of its cadres are Hindus, although in recent years, there are Muslims and Christians as well who are members of the party. But Hindus are not a homogeneous crowd since there is no Guru or Pandit they owe allegiance to like a Maulvi to Muslims or a Paadry (Priest) to Christians. It’s a society, where there is no demand on individuals to do or not to do anything related to religion or God. It is truly democratic in a sense. It has its own controversial aspects like caste, which has affected the health of the society in different ways. Because of this dimension unity among Hindus is absent to a large extent. Same cannot be said about other dominant groups like Muslims and Christians. They have their dos and don’ts coming from Mosque and Churches. They have to a great extent, a regulated life as far as their commitment to Mosque or Church is concerned. This dimension gives them a sense of cohesion if they can be addressed as a crowd. For example on Friday all Muslims have to attend Mosque for prayers. Similarly for Christians it is Sunday as the day of going to church. There is no such thing for a Hindu. He is free like a bird. Both has it positives and negatives.
In India political parties especially Congress and BJP besides other regional parties can all influence a political course by exploiting religions & caste dimension. BJP although known as Hindu Nationalist Party, has not been able to get the support of all Hindus for varieties of reasons. At least until 1985, they had only 2 seats in the Loksabha. It had remained in the fringe of the national politics for a long time. But slowly and steadily it grew in strength and even had brush with power at the centre and in states for some years and has shown that it is a force that cannot be denied its legitimate dominant role.
Come 2014, BJP emerged as a single largest party with numbers far more than majority to form a single party government at the centre. Why this development has come about? A section of Indians, not just Hindus, but also others including Muslims and Christians felt that BJP deserved a chance, since other parties have done more for themselves and their cronies and families. However emergence of BJP as a political force was not liked by Congress and Communist Party of India besides other regional parties. So some kind of a, behind the scene, machinations started working against BJP and its affiliates. What is the better way than a ‘terror’ tag to tarnish the image of anybody or any organization? India being a huge and complex country with almost 80% Hindus, forces inimical to BJP started to think how BJP stock can be hurt both in short term as well as long term. Thus came about the concept of ‘HINDU TERROR’. Indians have recently heard about Tamil film actor Kamala Haasan calling the killer of Mahatma Gandhi as the first Hindu terrorist of independent India. He was addressing a crowd of Muslim electorates, who do have the unfortunate legacy of having many terrorists and terrorist organizations both local and international among their faithfulls. Of course it is true that majority of Muslims are rather innocents. But the experience of the world has been there in suffering inflicted due to activities of Jihad-groups. It is also true that there were likes of Nathuram Godse, who killed Mahatma Gandhi or Dara Singh who killed Australian missionary Graham Staines & his two sons, both apparently acted as individuals. But such instances are few and far between for a crowd which is 80% of Indian population. But, whatever their justification for their act, they have no right to kill anybody. Law must address it without fear or favour. But forces inimical to BJP wanted something bigger and more sinister so that BJP may suffer electoral reverses. According to sources available in the public space, Home Ministry in New Delhi under the Congress government sketched plan to create and sustain this diabolical plan of HINDU TERROR. According to the same source, Shivraj Patil, P. Chidambaram and Sushil Kumar Shinde, all Home Ministers in Delhi, at some time or the other were involved with the active participation of Digvijaya Singh, a former Congress Chief Minister of M.P and a senior police officer from Maharashtra in creating the logo HINDU TERROR. It is reliably learnt that Digvijaya Singh is the person who coined the terms ‘Hindu Terror’.
Here what needs to be appreciated is, while terror attacks where non-Hindus were involved, then the benefit of “Terror has no religion” is given to them, but here is an example, nay case, where a section of the government in Delhi is creating a brand name called ‘Hindu Terror’, even when there is none. Why this diabolic design, is difficult to fathom.
RVS Mani, (RVSM) who retired as an Under Secretary in the central government ministries has stated on record that there indeed was an effort as far back as 20/04/2006 to designate an individual with some contact with Bajarang Dal as a Hindu Terrorist and a story was planted in the media. All that had happened was on 20/04/2006 some explosion took place in his workshop in Nanded, where he had stored some explosives. This was developed into a story and was handed over to CBI. Fortunately according to RVSM, officers attached to the case in CBI dismissed it as a commercial crime to claim some insurance benefit since this person was going through some lean period in his business activity and nothing to do with the tag of ‘Hindu Terror’. RVSM even called Sanjiv Bhatt, an IPS officer during the 2002 Gujarat riot, that “Bhatt is blatantly lying” when he had accused the then Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi, that CM had directed the officers to ‘let the Hindus vent their anger’.
Reportedly the recently concluded election to the Loksabha had re-elected the incumbent government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Bharatiya Janatha Party had a candidate Sadhvi Pragya Thakur who was accused of terrorism and was jailed. She was released on bail, and since she was not convicted she could stand for election. She had mentioned, during her campaigning that the chief of Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) had tortured her physically to a great extent. She had also stated that ‘it was her curse that killed him’. This ATS chief was killed by Pak terrorist on 27th November 2008, outside Cama Hospital. He was Hemant Karkare, the same police officer found hobnobbing with Digvijaya Singh in the office of Shivraj Patil, who was the then Home Minister, as witnessed and recorded by RVSM. Bharatiya Janatha Party, who fielded the terror accused Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, probably wanted to prove a point. She was fielded against the probable villain who engineered it all. She won the Bhopal seat by a margin of a whopping 364,822 votes. It is true that last word on her alleged crime has yet to be established. But what needs to be appreciated is, while there is public propaganda that “terror has no name or religion”, there is this organized and diabolic plan to create a new euphemism called HINDU TERROR, by this so-called secular brigade. Adding to the issue of this Pragya Thakur is the report appeared in the print media just before the election datelined Mumbai “Blast accused say victimized by Congress and NCP for being Hindu”. Reportedly a group of people claiming to be “innocent Hindus victimized by Congress and NCP appealed people in a press conference to not vote for these parties in Maharashtra in the coming Loksabha election. Group included Samir Kulkarni, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, besides families of some of the accused. According to Samir Kulkarni “We are innocent Hindus who are the victims of the dirty politics of the Congress and the NCP. No one should suffer like us. We appeal to you to not vote for the Congress and the NCP”. This Samir Kulkarni who was arrested for blast in his workshop in Nanded is the same person referred by RVSM.
In a country, where 80% are Hindus, this insinuation is terrible even to think, especially when there are likes of George Fernandese, M.J Akbar or former President APJ Abdul Kalam among many others who have spoken eloquently of how pluralistic Indian society is primarily because of its Hindu majority.
Easter Sunday, one of the sacred days for Christian faithfulls on 21st April 2019, turned out to be a blood letter day for Sri Lankan Christians. Reportedly some 300 were killed by the self exploding bombers or what is called as suicide bombers. Over 500 were injured. Churches and hotels were destroyed. Killers left not just their foot prints but their signature as well to claim responsibility so that the heaven up there should have no doubt, who killed whom!
Those killed were non-Muslim Kafirs, and this is what Prof. Sumit Paul a research scholar on Semitic Languages & Civilizations had written, “This word Kafir is again in public consciousness across the globe following the Sri Lankan suicide bombers blowing themselves up vowing the elimination of all non-Muslim or non believers from the face of the earth”. Of course, media being what media is, more often than not, agenda driven, had this usual crap to convey, terrorist has no religion. It is another matter that they use this idiom so very selectively that their under garments are always seen.
Terrorism is an evolving scourge and terrorists prefer to be as anonymous as any ordinary citizens especially when they are on the prowl or when they set out to execute their nefarious deeds. But once the job is over, it’s the heaven that beckons them so there is a competition to claim responsibility.
But in Sri Lanka, immediately after the blasts, there was nobody phoning the media houses to claim responsibility. Because the mastermind himself was a suicide bomber and got killed. Zahran Mohammed Hashim, born in 1986, was one of the five siblings of Mohammed Hashim, a petty trader in Kattankudy, a coastal town in the eastern Batticaloa district of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka had long ago stopped being in the news after the LTTE was comprehensively vanquished under the presidentship of Mahinda Rajapaksa. In recent times the problem with the debt liquidation of Hambanthota Port development payable to China was the news. But, Sri Lanka succumbed to the pressure to sign an agreement with China for 99 years lease of the port infrastructure. Suddenly it’s in the news for all wrong reasons. Apparently there appeared no reason for this kind of attack targeting mostly Christians, especially on a holy day as Easter Sunday.
But then, madness has little explanation. ISIS fanatics reportedly hailed the attack as a revenge for New Zealand shooting and also claimed responsibility. But it was a little known local outfit called National Thowheed Jamaath, an organization that Zahran Hashim had started and nursed. Ever since 21st April bomb blasts Sri Lanka has not been the same. They, at least in and around the place where blasts have taken place, are living a restless life, with intelligence informing there could be more attacks.
In a country of 21 million people, Muslims constitute only 9.7% in Sri Lanka, with 70% Buddhists. In the past LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) of Tamil minorities had a purpose, to have their own separate homeland within Sri Lanka. And LTTE was very violent for over 25 years. LTTE fought a violent battle with Sri Lankan forces. However on 19/5/2009, Sri Lankan forces finally managed to kill their founder leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and LTTE lost the battle. But Muslims were by and large was a very quiet community at least until 21st April. Easter Sunday attack, completely unexpected though, has changed it all.
Reassuring Indian Christians, Muslims in Bengalooru and Mangalooru, stood sentinel at church gates during Sunday prayers, expressing solidarity. It was a good gesture. It only showed the long held belief, that in a community, all are not rotten apples. Those who gathered near the churches and elsewhere had among other placards had carried “TERRORIST HAS NO RELIGION” placards as well. This particular placard on display was increasingly becoming irrelevant, with just about anybody taking up gun or firearm to inflict pain, destruction and loss of life on some disagreeable crowd. The fact was those who perpetrated the violence in the name of religion, always belonged to some faith.
On 15th March, a gunman had entered a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, shot indiscriminately those who were praying in the mosque. If at 1.40 pm it was at Al Noor Mosque he continued the shooting at Linwood Islamic Centre 15 minutes later at 1.55 pm. Both attacks killed some 50 of them and another 50 wounded. They were all unarmed. Brenton Harrison Tarrant an Australian white supremacist, he was clearly a Christian and a terrorist, despite his Christian brethren disowning him and condemning his action.
If Zahran Hashim and his National Thowheed Jamaath thought that Muslims did not come under the Sri Lankan constitution, that they need not follow any government rules and in his understanding of Koran Non-Muslims have to be killed, apparently Brenton Harrison Tarrant, an Australian white Christian, killing Muslims in another country, Newzealand, will have his own justification, for his shooting of unarmed Muslim men at prayer.
Both of them may be right, with their own misguided explanations. But aren’t both of them creating a chaotic world order where co-existence of humans is impossible unless one agrees with their ideology. It’s my way only, not even highway. Here again, fence sitters would call it, mass shooting of unarmed opponents, the killer belong to no religion.
We have in India, fresh in memory, just completed 100 years of Jalianwala Baug massacre by Brigadier Gen Reginald Dyer, a British subject, is clearly a terrorist, since he killed some 400 unarmed Indians at pointblank range. It was on 13th April 1919. Can it be called state terrorism? But he acted on his own, without order, without discussion, therefore he is a terrorist. It is another matter that he used his sentries to do the cruel job.
Terrorism has a long history. It’s not a 21st century phenomenon. According to the recorded history it was Jews who founded a terrorist organization in the 1st century to overthrow Romans in the Middle East. But since we are in the 21st century, it is important that we understand modern terrorism post II World War. It is pertinent to note that the use of terrorism has always been to further some social or political causes in recent years. Among many causes increasing population is clearly one of them.
In a world with finite resources increasing population only makes it more complex. 1983, Nelli massacre in Assam is a classic example in the Indian context, where migration of Bengalees from Bangladesh and the perceived loss of opportunities for locals led to this huge socio-political rupture. Some 5000 were killed. Of course, in India there have been many such raptures called riots, from 1947 until 2002, including the anti-Sikh riot in 1984 where close to 2800 reportedly died. It is true that there were some or the other reasons-basically socio-political- that caused the bloody upsurge.
But what happened in Sri Lanka or in New Zealand have no such causes. The obvious causelessness makes these killings a matter of deep concern. If ISIS wants the whole world to be only Muslim and wants the world to be Islamised, these white supremacists, and Brenton Harrison Tarrant is not alone in this madness. There are peers, who have done such acts in the past in the name of Aryan Kingdom.
Fortunately there are enough among Christian west, who can put brake on this madness called white supremacy. And it does not look to be growing. But certainly a matter of deep concern all the same. However the same cannot be said about ISIS and umpteen other outfits that have proliferated from Middle East to Far East talking about one Allah who is Vilhaad Al Wahid, that is he is one of a kind, incomparable and one Muslim world and there are so-called faithfulls -or Jehadis-who would give their life to this cause. And comes these reports from different parts of the world around the same time, “Suicide blast rocks Kabul, 7 killed” “Unidentified gunmen kill 13 at Mexican party” “Jehadi attacks kill 22 Syria pro-regime fighters” “Fifteen killed in fierce gun battle between Lankan forces and ISIS militants”.
Look at the way National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) has evolved. It is another matter that on April 27, post Easter Sunday mayhem on 21st April, Sri Lankan government of President Maithripala Sirisena has banned this outfit NTJ.
Comparatively, except for the LTTE problem, the Island nation has been a peaceful place and therefore has been a global tourist destination, despite occasional clashes between Buddhists and Muslims. Hence, such a happening, as it happened on 21st April Easter Sunday was completely unexpected. In fact Sri Lanka had an evolving legacy of Sufi culture among Sri Lankan Muslims, especially in and around Kattankudy. Yet it happened.
Reportedly in early 1980s, Gulf returned youth with their Saudi Arabian contacts brought the puritanical Wahhabism into Sri Lanka. Slowly and steadily Sufi’s were losing their influence. No wonder, a place like Kuttankudy spanning just 3.9 square kilo meters gave birth to 45 mosques with Saudi money, each probably having its own group of thinkers and mentors guiding the youth away from Sufism and towards Wahhabism. In 1998, May 29, one Farooq Maulvi, a Sufi protagonist, who fought the wahhabi ideology was killed. Clearly peace loving Sufi’s were losing the battle to guide the youth. Distrust and fear within the Muslim community of Kuttankudy were sown. It only widened in following years. Attack on mosque at Irumbuthaikkan in Batticaloa followed. Hijab for girls and women became compulsory. Liberal women stayed indoors and covered their faces when outdoor. 45 mosques and its youthful small outfits got together as Eamaniya Nenjangal and asked Sufi’s to convert to Wahhabism. It was an existential crisis for Sufis. Some 50Sufi houses and madrasas were gutted. A maulvi Mohammed Rizvi was caught, beaten and his beard shaven was released after a few days. Maulvi Abdul Rauff was shot but survived unhurt. In Kattankudy Jihad had arrived. According to them it was their “duty to correct the Muslims who are going on the wrong path”.
It was in this atmosphere National Thowheed Jamath was established by Zahran Hashmi with 40 members which grew to 400 in a year’s time. An Arabic College dropout, for his radical views, nobody in Kattankudy thought that Zahran Hashmi would go as far as to harm the country with such terror. Concerned about his radical views and his growing followers local community leaders reported against him to all top government authorities. Apparently none took it seriously.
Has the Jihad come to stay in Sri Lanka? It is a difficult question. Government in Colombo is not taking chances. Majority Buddhists have reacted angrily towards Muslims. Unfortunately it could be the peace loving section of Muslims who could be the sitting ducks. Police have tried to control the mob violence. But the rupture is clear. Will the gash remain an open wound? It’s a question staring at Lankans in general and Lankan Muslims in particular.
There are also leaders like Rauff Hakim, a Minister in Sri Lankan government and leader of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress reportedly stated “Being a Muslim Minister in the Cabinet, I believe that Muslim leadership and the community should introspect. We are ashamed and outraged at this happening”. Such voices of sanity are the need of the hour. Hope it persists.
However a question lingered long, how NTJ alone with its limited resources could have managed the simultaneous blast in eight different places in West and East? Without anybody suspecting their role, groups in Tamil Nadu came out openly to disassociate themselves from the happenings of 21st April in Sri Lanka. It could be very likely that there were coordinative efforts which helped NTJ achieve their dastardly deed, since Sri Lankan Muslims too are generally Tamils.
Globally, there have been more serious deliberations on how to contain this scourge and if possible eliminate terrorism of all kinds. The long awaited declaration of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) Chief Masood Azar as an international global terrorist has come about after China decided to fall in line with the international community. While it is true that international community has to be unequivocal in its stand of zero tolerance of terror related violence, there are differing perceptions of how it can be handled by individual countries.
Coming to ‘Terror Has No Religion’ statements or placards, it is pertinent to note how some individuals or organizations or even media try to take a sinister side, is an interesting study, especially in the Indian context. India is the most complex country in the world with its ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity. Left to themselves, whether India could have been a different society, it is difficult to surmise. Ever since Britishers left India in 1947, there is a semblance of democratic functioning by government elected under adult franchise. From couple of political parties in 1947 to over 600 political parties to-day, it’s a democracy of a different vibrancy. However, despite there being some serious regional players there are only 2 national political parties and they are Indian National Congress, the Grand Old Party (GOP) of India and the Bharathiya Janatha Party, besides Communist Party of India and its other splinter groups. It is true that, unlike Congress and BJP, communist party do not have national presence. It is only in Kerala, West Bengal and some states of North East like Tripura. All these parties have an agenda to remain politically and electorally relevant. Although BJP denies being a Hindu Nationalist party, the fact is vast majority of its cadres are Hindus, although in recent years, there are Muslims and Christians as well who are members of the party. But Hindus are not a homogeneous crowd since there is no Guru or Pandit they owe allegiance to like a Maulvi to Muslims or a Paadry (Priest) to Christians. It’s a society, where there is no demand on individuals to do or not to do anything related to religion or God. It is truly democratic in a sense. It has its own controversial aspects like caste, which has affected the health of the society in different ways. Because of this dimension unity among Hindus is absent to a large extent. Same cannot be said about other dominant groups like Muslims and Christians. They have their dos and don’ts coming from Mosque and Churches. They have to a great extent, a regulated life as far as their commitment to Mosque or Church is concerned. This dimension gives them a sense of cohesion if they can be addressed as a crowd. For example on Friday all Muslims have to attend Mosque for prayers. Similarly for Christians it is Sunday as the day of going to church. There is no such thing for a Hindu. He is free like a bird. Both has it positives and negatives.
In India political parties especially Congress and BJP besides other regional parties can all influence a political course by exploiting religions & caste dimension. BJP although known as Hindu Nationalist Party, has not been able to get the support of all Hindus for varieties of reasons. At least until 1985, they had only 2 seats in the Loksabha. It had remained in the fringe of the national politics for a long time. But slowly and steadily it grew in strength and even had brush with power at the centre and in states for some years and has shown that it is a force that cannot be denied its legitimate dominant role.
Come 2014, BJP emerged as a single largest party with numbers far more than majority to form a single party government at the centre. Why this development has come about? A section of Indians, not just Hindus, but also others including Muslims and Christians felt that BJP deserved a chance, since other parties have done more for themselves and their cronies and families. However emergence of BJP as a political force was not liked by Congress and Communist Party of India besides other regional parties. So some kind of a, behind the scene, machinations started working against BJP and its affiliates. What is the better way than a ‘terror’ tag to tarnish the image of anybody or any organization? India being a huge and complex country with almost 80% Hindus, forces inimical to BJP started to think how BJP stock can be hurt both in short term as well as long term. Thus came about the concept of ‘HINDU TERROR’. Indians have recently heard about Tamil film actor Kamala Haasan calling the killer of Mahatma Gandhi as the first Hindu terrorist of independent India. He was addressing a crowd of Muslim electorates, who do have the unfortunate legacy of having many terrorists and terrorist organizations both local and international among their faithfulls. Of course it is true that majority of Muslims are rather innocents. But the experience of the world has been there in suffering inflicted due to activities of Jihad-groups. It is also true that there were likes of Nathuram Godse, who killed Mahatma Gandhi or Dara Singh who killed Australian missionary Graham Staines & his two sons, both apparently acted as individuals. But such instances are few and far between for a crowd which is 80% of Indian population. But, whatever their justification for their act, they have no right to kill anybody. Law must address it without fear or favour. But forces inimical to BJP wanted something bigger and more sinister so that BJP may suffer electoral reverses. According to sources available in the public space, Home Ministry in New Delhi under the Congress government sketched plan to create and sustain this diabolical plan of HINDU TERROR. According to the same source, Shivraj Patil, P. Chidambaram and Sushil Kumar Shinde, all Home Ministers in Delhi, at some time or the other were involved with the active participation of Digvijaya Singh, a former Congress Chief Minister of M.P and a senior police officer from Maharashtra in creating the logo HINDU TERROR. It is reliably learnt that Digvijaya Singh is the person who coined the terms ‘Hindu Terror’.
Here what needs to be appreciated is, while terror attacks where non-Hindus were involved, then the benefit of “Terror has no religion” is given to them, but here is an example, nay case, where a section of the government in Delhi is creating a brand name called ‘Hindu Terror’, even when there is none. Why this diabolic design, is difficult to fathom.
RVS Mani, (RVSM) who retired as an Under Secretary in the central government ministries has stated on record that there indeed was an effort as far back as 20/04/2006 to designate an individual with some contact with Bajarang Dal as a Hindu Terrorist and a story was planted in the media. All that had happened was on 20/04/2006 some explosion took place in his workshop in Nanded, where he had stored some explosives. This was developed into a story and was handed over to CBI. Fortunately according to RVSM, officers attached to the case in CBI dismissed it as a commercial crime to claim some insurance benefit since this person was going through some lean period in his business activity and nothing to do with the tag of ‘Hindu Terror’. RVSM even called Sanjiv Bhatt, an IPS officer during the 2002 Gujarat riot, that “Bhatt is blatantly lying” when he had accused the then Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi, that CM had directed the officers to ‘let the Hindus vent their anger’.
Reportedly the recently concluded election to the Loksabha had re-elected the incumbent government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Bharatiya Janatha Party had a candidate Sadhvi Pragya Thakur who was accused of terrorism and was jailed. She was released on bail, and since she was not convicted she could stand for election. She had mentioned, during her campaigning that the chief of Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) had tortured her physically to a great extent. She had also stated that ‘it was her curse that killed him’. This ATS chief was killed by Pak terrorist on 27th November 2008, outside Cama Hospital. He was Hemant Karkare, the same police officer found hobnobbing with Digvijaya Singh in the office of Shivraj Patil, who was the then Home Minister, as witnessed and recorded by RVSM. Bharatiya Janatha Party, who fielded the terror accused Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, probably wanted to prove a point. She was fielded against the probable villain who engineered it all. She won the Bhopal seat by a margin of a whopping 364,822 votes. It is true that last word on her alleged crime has yet to be established. But what needs to be appreciated is, while there is public propaganda that “terror has no name or religion”, there is this organized and diabolic plan to create a new euphemism called HINDU TERROR, by this so-called secular brigade. Adding to the issue of this Pragya Thakur is the report appeared in the print media just before the election datelined Mumbai “Blast accused say victimized by Congress and NCP for being Hindu”. Reportedly a group of people claiming to be “innocent Hindus victimized by Congress and NCP appealed people in a press conference to not vote for these parties in Maharashtra in the coming Loksabha election. Group included Samir Kulkarni, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, besides families of some of the accused. According to Samir Kulkarni “We are innocent Hindus who are the victims of the dirty politics of the Congress and the NCP. No one should suffer like us. We appeal to you to not vote for the Congress and the NCP”. This Samir Kulkarni who was arrested for blast in his workshop in Nanded is the same person referred by RVSM.
In a country, where 80% are Hindus, this insinuation is terrible even to think, especially when there are likes of George Fernandese, M.J Akbar or former President APJ Abdul Kalam among many others who have spoken eloquently of how pluralistic Indian society is primarily because of its Hindu majority.
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